Month: September 2024

Boban Marjanovic Looking To Play For New NBA Team

August 25th, 2024 at 3:19pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Free agent center Boban Marjanovic is still hoping to land with an NBA squad this summer, he relayed to Milun Nesovic of Meridian Sport (hat tip to Eurohoops for the translation).

Marjanovic was in Slovenia to partake in a star-studded tribute game to retiring former All-NBA point guard Goran Dragic. Hall of Famers Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Bosh and Steve Nash were all also in attendance, as was reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic.

“I’m waiting for the NBA, but if it doesn’t happen, there is a lot on paper going on,” Marjanovic said. “Every time you make plans, it doesn’t work out. Plans always change.”

Since entering the league with the Spurs, Marjanovic has bounced around the league as a reserve center. He’s played for the Pistons, Clippers, Sixers, and Mavericks. Marjanovic most recently suited up for the Rockets from 2022-24.

The full interview is an interesting one. Here are some other comments from Marjanovic:

The 36-year-old did not play for his native Serbia during this summer’s Olympics, but he was clearly invested while watching Jokic and co. almost upset Team USA during their semifinal matchup. “First of all, it’s an amazing experience to watch your friends fight,” Marjanovic said. “There is still regret for that lost match against America, since we all saw it as, ‘Well, we’re winning!’ That’s why it hurts a little. But bronze is bronze, a medal! An extraordinary success for us as a country, for them as individuals and, of course, for our basketball.”
In reflecting on Dragic’s retirement game, the 7’4″ big man remarked on the scope of the event, in terms of its attendees. “I saw people here that I haven’t seen in a long time,” Marjanovic said. “It’s fascinating how many people and faces there are in one place. It will be a nice event. Gogi is a fascinating guy, not to mention what kind of player he was, you all know that. He deserves this. The organization is really at the top level.”

Nikola Vucevic Talks Lonzo Ball, Changes In Chicago, Retirement

August 25th, 2024 at 1:53pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Speaking at All-NBA point guard Goran Dragic‘s farewell game in Slovenia, Bulls center Nikola Vucevic reflected on the team’s disappointing results over the past three seasons. The 6’10” big man noted that everything changed after point guard Lonzo Ball suffered a left meniscus tear midway through the 2021/22 season, per Milun Nesovic of Meridian Sport (hat tip to BasketNews for the transcription).

Chicago went 22-13 during the 35 games Ball was healthy, and hovered around the top of the Eastern Conference. The club then fell to the No. 6 seed and was eliminated by the Bucks in a brisk 2022 first-round playoff series. Ball has undergone three knee surgeries, but has yet to return to the hardwood.

“Since Lonzo Ball’s injury, we haven’t been able to achieve the results we could have,” Vucevic said. “When he played, we were at the top of the East for a while, which maybe wasn’t a realistic result, even though we were playing well, but with him, we would have fought for anything between third and sixth place in the end.”

Chicago hasn’t had Ball available since January 2022. It’s probably not realistic to expect him to contribute at the same level he did, if he ever can come back.

The conversation is well worth reading in full. Here are some more highlights:

Vucevic also blamed constant trade chatter for distracting the team during its subsequent two seasons, when Chicago made very few transactions and ultimately missed the playoffs. “Trade talks also affected us, preventing us from achieving the results we thought we could, but when results don’t follow, changes come,” Vucevic said.
The team parted ways with two of its top players, six-time All-Star swingman DeMar DeRozan and All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso, this summer. DeRozan inked a lucrative three-year deal with the Kings via sign-and-trade, while Caruso was dealt to the Thunder for Josh Giddey. Vucevic is aware that the club is trying to pivot. “DeRozan left, Caruso left, the team got younger, and they wanted to go in a different direction,” Vucevic said. “We’ll see how the season goes, and then decisions will be made based on that.”
The 33-year-old center, who is owed $41.5MM over the next two seasons, also addressed his own future in the league. “I’m aware that I’ve been in the NBA for 13 years now, that the end is not that far off,” Vucevic acknowledged. “I don’t believe I’ll play another 13 years, but I have two more years with Chicago, and I’d like to play two more after that… I think I can play at a high level for that long, and then I’ll see.” A two-time All-Star while with the Magic, Vucevic has seen his shooting efficiency fall off somewhat in recent seasons. After connecting on 40% of 6.3 three-pointers per game in 2020/21, he has averaged 32% on 4.3 long range attempts across the ensuing three seasons. Though he averaged a respectable 18.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 76 games last season, Vucevic’s lack of athleticism has made him a major defensive liability, unable to switch in pick-and-roll situations and incapable of effectively protecting the rim. Offensively, the ball often sticks in his hands and disrupts the club’s scoring.

Alex Caruso Discusses Expectations For Thunder

August 25th, 2024 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

After spending the last three years in Chicago, Alex Caruso is facing much higher expectations as he prepares for training camp with the Thunder. Oklahoma City, the top seed in the West last season, upgraded this summer by acquiring Caruso, an elite perimeter defender, in a trade with the Bulls and signing free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein.

Caruso, who played four seasons at Texas A&M, talked about the outlook for his new team in an interview this week with TexAgs Radio.

“I think that the Thunder’s success last year speaks for itself,” he said. “Being first in the West is a tall task because of the buzzsaw and how much talent is in the Western Conference. It is weird now because we added some pieces in the offseason and re-signed some of the young guys. Isaiah Harteinstein and I are phenomenal basketball players who can fit really well within the team. Looking at it on paper, we do a lot of stuff that those guys need that will help us be successful.”

After going undrafted in 2016, Caruso got his first NBA opportunity with the Thunder, signing a training camp contract that fall. He was waived before the start of the season and joined the G League’s Oklahoma City Blue, where he played for current Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault.

Caruso is thrilled to be reuniting with Daigneault as an NBA veteran.

“We have a great relationship,” he said. “I know what to expect out of him and he knows how to coach and push me. If there was one word to describe it, just excited.”

Caruso’s career began to take off when he joined the Lakers on a two-way contract in 2017. He appeared in 37 games as a rookie and gradually worked his way into a rotation role.

He credits LeBron James, who signed in L.A. a year later, with helping to build his confidence and convincing him that he could be a productive NBA player.

“Coming from someone of that stature, someone who is that smart and skilled and the face of the NBA, and arguably the greatest of all time, that means a lot,” Caruso said. “It gave me the confidence in myself to believe that what I was doing was right. It helped me believe that what I was good at could contribute and be a deciding factor in NBA games. All I ever wanted was to be out there at the end of the game and have a chance to win.”

Caruso returned to College Station to host a golf tournament that will help set up his new foundation. The idea of being an established NBA player and having his own charitable organization seemed far away when he played for the Aggies.

“There is so much I want to do to give back,” Caruso said. “I am learning as I go, just figuring out the best way to set up for success so people can benefit from it and help it grow.”

And-Ones: Nash, Petrovic, Campazzo, Olympics

August 25th, 2024 at 10:33am CST by Arthur Hill

Steve Nash isn’t looking to return to coaching after his experience in Brooklyn, writes Mindaugas Bertys of BasketNews. Nash was somewhat of a surprising hire when the Nets tabbed him to be their head coach in 2020, overseeing a team that expected to contend for a title with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. He compiled a 94-67 record in a little more than two years, but parted ways with the organization early in the 2022/23 season after the team got off to a 2-5 start.

“Coaching was a great experience for me and my family. I didn’t want to be a career coach. I just wanted to help that project,” Nash said during an appearance Saturday at Goran Dragic‘s farewell game. “I don’t feel like coaching is necessarily in my future. I’m very focused at this time on having as big an impact on my kids as possible.”

With five children, Nash told reporters that his duties as a father are his top priority. He compared the experience to being an “Uber driver,” but added that he hasn’t fully removed himself from basketball.

“At this stage of my life, it has been really rewarding,” Nash said. “That’s really where my focus is, but there are always projects, affiliations and partnerships, and things that are interesting, so I always have something going on.”

There’s more from around the basketball world:

Several current and former NBA players will take part in an exhibition game to honor the memory of Drazen Petrovic, per Johnny Askounis of EuroHoops. The event will take place September 5 in Zagreb to celebrate the legacy of the Croatian star, who was one of the first European players to make an impact in the NBA before he died in an auto accident in 1993. Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric, Ivica Zubac, Damjan Rudez and Gordan Giricek are among the players scheduled to participate.
Facundo Campazzo, who spent three seasons with Denver and Dallas, talked to BasketNews about the differences between the NBA and international basketball and shared some advice he got from Nikola Jokic when he joined the Nuggets in 2020. “He came up to me and said, ‘Forget about everything you learned in FIBA basketball all these years. This is a different sport’ — and it was just like that,” Campazzo recalled. “It’s another way of facing the season, another way of practicing, of playing — also because the rules are different, the game is played in a different way. In fact, Jokic was the point guard. So I had to reinvent my way of playing, but he helped me a lot, it makes you a better player.”
Netflix will air a documentary series next year focusing on the 2024 Olympic basketball competition, according to BasketNews. The IOC granted unlimited access to camera crews throughout the qualification process and the games in France.

EuroLeague May Be An Option For Robin Lopez

August 25th, 2024 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Free agent Robin Lopez is willing to consider playing in Europe if he doesn’t get an offer from an NBA team, writes Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. The 36-year-old center has been on the open market since the Kings acquired and waived him at last season’s trade deadline.

“I’d absolutely consider it,” Lopez responded when asked about the possibility of joining the EuroLeague. “I know how passionate the fans are and how high the level of basketball is.”

Lopez signed with the Bucks last summer to give them another big man off the bench and to join forces with his twin brother Brook Lopez. He saw limited playing time in 16 games before Milwaukee shipped him to Sacramento along with cash considerations on February 8 to open a roster spot and reduce its tax bill. The Kings released him the same day.

Lopez has turned into a journeyman late in his career, changing teams every offseason since 2019. He has played for nine teams since being selected with the 15th pick in the 2008 draft and has career averages of 8.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 992 games.

Lopez spoke to reporters Saturday after participating in Goran Dragic‘s farewell game in Slovenia. They both started their NBA careers in Phoenix in 2008.

“We were rookies together, and he was somebody I could look to because he had been a professional before in Europe,” Lopez said. “Gogi was somebody I could always look up to and model myself after.”

After watching Dragic close out his career, Lopez acknowledged that retirement may not be far away for him as well.

“If it happens, it happens,” he said. “I’ve had a great career so far, not as good as Goran’s, but I’m thankful for everything I’ve been given.”

Chris Bosh Returns To Court In Goran Dragic’s Farewell Game

August 24th, 2024 at 10:44pm CST by Arthur Hill

Chris Bosh played competitive basketball today for the first time in eight years, making a brief appearance during Goran Dragic‘s retirement game to honor his former teammate. The Hall of Famer starred for Toronto and Miami during 13 NBA seasons before a blood clot issue brought his career to a premature end. After logging a couple of minutes in Saturday’s contest, Bosh spoke to Mindaugas Bertys of BasketNews about the medical condition that forced him to retire.

“It was very tough,” Bosh said. “It was the death of my career, to be honest. Any time dealing with loss and death and stuff like that, you go through grief. I had to do that for a few years. I got over it. I believe it made me stronger. It made me focus on being more of a father.”

Bosh and Dragic spent a season and a half as teammates with the Heat after Dragic was acquired at the 2015 trade deadline. Bosh won two championships in Miami and played in four NBA Finals after signing there along with LeBron James in the summer of 2010.

Bosh is an 11-time All-Star who averaged 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds in 893 career games. He was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Although Bosh would have preferred to play longer, he told Bertys that he has positive memories about his NBA career.

“It all went good,” he said. “A couple of championships. Got to meet some great people, have some great teammates, great stories, great locker rooms. I’m a lucky guy.”

Bosh revealed that he had an opportunity to play in Europe after the NBA refused to give him medical clearance, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. However, he decided it was best to end his career and not take any health risks.

“I wasn’t in a position where I wanted to up and move my family. I had babies at the time,” Bosh said. “I took it as a sign and continued to move on. But I had a couple of offers. It wasn’t Greece. Spain, France. In the EuroLeague.”

Dragic’s team prevailed as he thrilled the Slovenian crowd with 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, Milanti adds in a separate story. The star-studded contest featured Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Luis Scola, Dirk Nowitzki, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Steve Nash.

There was also a one-on-one game between Dragic and his brother Zoran with their parents serving as referee and scorekeeper.

Northwest Notes: Holmgren, Giddey, Caruso, Dieng, Malone, Kessler

August 24th, 2024 at 9:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

Appearing on Podcast P With Paul George (video link), Thunder big man Chet Holmgren admitted being “hurt” when he heard about the June trade that sent Josh Giddey to the Bulls in exchange for Alex Caruso. Holmgren and Giddey were high lottery picks by Oklahoma City in back-to-back years, and they were expecting to be part of the team’s long-term foundation.

“I was (expletive) hurt when I saw that Giddey wouldn’t be on our team anymore,” Holmgren said. “We all rock with him. That’s our dog, still is. He’s gonna go do great things in Chicago, so we’re excited for him and we’re also excited to have AC on our team now, too. Like you said, great defender, he makes shots, he always makes winning plays, makes the right plays. That’s the type of dude you want to play with.”

Caruso, considered one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, joins a Thunder team that’s already proficient on that end of the court. Giddey may thrive once he’s given a chance to run the Bulls’ offense, but he struggled in the playoffs last season and was pulled from the starting lineup in the second-round series against Dallas due to concerns about his defense and outside shooting.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

After two developmental years, Ousmane Dieng is hoping to earn a spot in the Thunder‘s rotation in 2024/25, writes Nick Crain of Forbes. The organization viewed Dieng as a project when it traded for him during the 2022 draft. He has appeared in just 72 NBA games since then, but has shown improvement in the G League and is fresh off winning MVP honors in the title game. Crain notes that because Dieng has perimeter skills to go with his 6’10” frame, he’s versatile enough to contribute to the Thunder at a variety of positions.
Coach Michael Malone and the Nuggets‘ front office haven’t been on the same page in recent years when it comes to roster moves, sources tell David Thorpe of TrueHoop. Thorpe has been hearing for two seasons about a “disconnect” as the organization has lost Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from its 2023 championship roster. Malone has been left with a collection of young players to try to fill their roles.
Walker Kessler doesn’t seem to be part of the long-term future for the Jazz, opines Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Sources confirm to Pincus that Utah has explored trades involving Kessler, including discussions with the Knicks in July. If the 23-year-old center remains on the roster, the Jazz will have to decide this fall whether to pick up his $4.9MM option for the 2025/26 season. Pincus’ comments are included in a proposed three-team trade involving the Pelicans and Nets that would send Brandon Ingram to Utah.

Danilo Gallinari Seeking One Last NBA Opportunity

August 24th, 2024 at 7:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

Danilo Gallinari is hoping for one more NBA season before he retires. The 36-year-old forward, who spent time with three teams last season, discussed his basketball future in an interview with Italian news outlet La Repubblica (translation via BasketNews).

“A return to Italy? Not yet,” Gallinari responded when asked about the possibility of joining the EuroLeague. “There is still time for [me in] the market, anything can happen at any time. Miami? It’s not my time yet, there are other free agents and we’ll decide later. It could be anywhere, as long as it’s a competitive franchise.”

Gallinari was viewed as a major free agent addition when he signed with Boston two years ago. However, a torn ACL prevented him from playing during the 2022/23 season and the Celtics decided to move on from him last summer, sending him to Washington as part of the three-team deal for Kristaps Porzingis.

Gallinari appeared in 26 games for the Wizards before traded to Detroit in January. He played six games for the Pistons and was waived shortly after the trade deadline. He signed with the Bucks in mid-February, but had a limited role, averaging just 9.1 minutes per night in 17 games. Overall, Gallinari got into 49 games during the season, scoring a career-low 5.7 PPG while shooting 43.7% from the field and 32.3% from three-point range.

He continued playing after the season ended, earning MVP honors in the Trentino Basketball Cup with the Italian national team. He is currently training with Treviglio in Italy and is likely headed for his final season as an active player, whether it happens in the NBA or elsewhere.

Gallinari said in the interview that once he’s retired, he would like to become a front office executive, hopefully with an NBA team.

NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: Memphis Grizzlies

August 24th, 2024 at 5:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Memphis Grizzlies.

Free agent signings

Luke Kennard: One year, $9,250,000. Includes $1,387,500 in unlikely incentives. Re-signed using Bird rights after team option was declined.

Trades

Acquired the draft rights to Cam Spencer (No. 53 pick) from the Pistons in a four-team trade in exchange for the draft rights to Ulrich Chomche (No. 57 pick; to Raptors) and the Grizzlies’ 2030 second-round pick (top-50 protected; to Timberwolves).
Acquired Mamadi Diakite and the draft rights to Nemanja Dangubic in exchange for Ziaire Williams and the Mavericks’ 2030 second-round pick.

Draft picks

1-9: Zach Edey
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $26,202,576).
2-39: Jaylen Wells
- Signed to four-year, minimum-salary contract ($7,895,796). First two years guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year non-guaranteed team option.
2-53: Cam Spencer
- Signed to two-way contract.

Two-way signings

Jay Huff
Cam Spencer

Departed/unsigned free agents

Jordan Goodwin (unsigned)
Lamar Stevens (unsigned)
Yuta Watanabe (Chiba Jets)

Other moves

Waived Trey Jemison (two-way).

Salary cap situation

Operating over the cap ($140.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($170.8MM).
Carrying approximately $170MM in salary.
No hard cap.
Full mid-level, bi-annual exceptions available.
Four traded player exceptions available (largest worth $12,600,000).

The offseason so far

It has been a quiet summer in Memphis, where the Grizzlies will bet on the return of a handful of starters and rotation players from injuries to propel them to a bounce-back season in 2024/25. There’s reason to believe that could be a fruitful strategy. After all, this roster is pretty similar to the one that racked up 56 wins in 2021/22 and 51 more in ’22/23.

Injuries to Desmond Bane (he played 42 games last season), Marcus Smart (20 games), Brandon Clarke (six games), Luke Kennard (39 games), Steven Adams (zero games), and especially Ja Morant (nine games) derailed Memphis in 2024/25, but the team will have all of those players back on the court next season, with the exception of Adams, who was sent to Houston ahead of the February trade deadline.

While the Grizzlies didn’t lose any key players this offseason, they still had a hole to fill up front, where they lost Adams and Xavier Tillman during the season. Operating right up against the luxury tax line, Memphis wasn’t in position to add an impact veteran center, but the club used its lottery pick to bring in a potential long-term answer at the position, drafting Zach Edey ninth overall.

Edey is coming off a monster college career at Purdue, where he was named the NCAA’s player of the year in each of the past two seasons. And he showed some promise when he was able to suit up in Summer League last month, averaging 10.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks in 21.0 minutes per game, though he was limited to just two appearances (one in Salt Lake City and one in Las Vegas) due to ankle issues.

Still, it remains to be seen how the 22-year-old will adjust to the speed and athleticism of the NBA game, especially with opposing offenses looking to lure him away from the rim and out to the perimeter. If Edey’s not ready to take on a substantial role as a rookie, the Grizzlies will otherwise have to rely on non-traditional fives like Jaren Jackson Jr., Santi Aldama, and Clarke.

Edey represents the only major addition of the summer for the Grizzlies, who also re-signed Kennard to a new one-year deal and drafted a couple players in the second round in June — Jaylen Wells will have a spot on the team’s 15-man roster, while Cam Spencer begins his career on a two-way deal.

Of the offseason departures, Ziaire Williams is the most notable. He was drafted with the 10th overall pick in 2021, but never developed into a consistent contributor and was dealt to Brooklyn in a salary dump.

Up next

The Grizzlies currently have 14 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Mamadi Diakite occupying the 15th roster spot — his $2.27MM salary is partially guaranteed for approximately $1.39MM.

Due to that partial guarantee, the Grizzlies don’t have the ability to waive Diakite and then sign a new 15th man for the veteran’s minimum without surpassing the luxury tax line — unless they cut Diakite within the next week and stretch his partial guarantee across three seasons.

I haven’t gotten the sense that Memphis is especially motivated to bring in a new 15th man, so the team may ultimately stick with Diakite for now. If the Grizzlies need to create a little spending flexibility below the tax line down the road, he could probably be traded relatively easily, perhaps with just some cash attached rather than any future draft assets.

Scotty Pippen Jr., who was impressive down the stretch for Memphis last season, may be the leading candidate to eventually supplant Diakite as the club’s 15th man. For the time being, Pippen is on a two-way deal and there will likely be no real urgency to promote him until he nears his 50-game limit.

The Grizzlies do have a few extension candidates on their roster worth watching, starting with Aldama, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension. After a promising sophomore season in 2022/23, Aldama didn’t take a significant step forward in year three, but if Memphis believes that was just a blip in an otherwise ascendant trajectory, the team could look to lock him up this fall rather than risk having his price tag go up in 2025.

Jackson and Smart are each eligible for a veteran extension this offseason, though both players are also under team control through 2026, so if nothing gets done before the season begins, that’s not a cause for concern. A new deal for Smart seems unlikely, given that he barely played due to health problems during his first year in Memphis.

Jackson is a better bet to be a long-term fixture with the franchise, but if he wants to try to make himself super-max-eligible by winning another Defensive Player of the Year award or earning an All-NBA spot in 2024/25, he’ll wait a year to sign anything. He may wait anyway, since his $23.4MM salary for ’25/26 will make it hard for the Grizzlies to offer him a deal worthy of his on-court value (they’re limited to a 40% raise in year one, with 8% annual raises after that).

Hoops Rumors Glossary: Disabled Player Exception

August 24th, 2024 at 4:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Most salary cap workarounds, such as the mid-level exception, can be used every year — or at least every other year, as in the case of the bi-annual exception. However the disabled player exception is only available under certain circumstances. Like other salary cap exceptions though, the DPE allows a team to sign a player without using cap space.

If a player is seriously injured, his team can apply for the disabled player exception to replace him. In order for the exception to be granted, an NBA-designated physician must determine that the player is “substantially more likely than not” to be sidelined through at least June 15 of that league year.

If granted, the disabled player exception allows a club to sign a replacement player for 50% of the injured player’s salary or for the amount of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, whichever is lesser.

For instance, if a team is granted a disabled player exception this season for a player earning $10MM, the exception would be worth $5MM. But if the injured player is earning $30MM, the DPE would be worth the equivalent of the mid-level exception ($12,822,000 in 2024/25).

A team must formally apply for a disabled player exception and it requires the approval of the NBA. If the league-designated physician determines the player will likely be fully recovered and available before June 15, the team’s request will be denied. That happened last season when the Knicks attempted to secure a disabled player exception for Mitchell Robinson‘s ankle injury. That turned out to be the right call by the league, given that Robinson returned to action in late March.

The cutoff to apply for a DPE each season is January 15. If a team has a player go down with a season-ending injury after that date, it cannot obtain a DPE to replace him. A team must also use the exception by March 10 of the current season or it will expire (this deadline can be pushed back to the next business day if March 10 lands on a weekend).

Unlike mid-level, bi-annual, or trade exceptions, the disabled player exception can only be used on a single player, rather than spread out across multiple players. However, a team can use it in a variety of ways — the DPE can be used to sign a free agent, to claim a player off waivers, or to acquire a player in a trade.

If a team uses its disabled player exception to take on salary in a trade, it can acquire a player making up to 100% of the DPE amount, plus $100K. For example, a $5,000,000 DPE could be used to trade for a player making $5,100,000.

A free agent signed using the DPE can only be offered a rest-of-season deal, while a player acquired via trade or waiver claim using the DPE must be in the final year of his contract. Essentially, the purpose of the exception is to give the team some flexibility to replace an injured player for the rest of the season, but not beyond the current season.

The team must have room on its roster to sign the replacement player — the disabled player exception doesn’t allow the club to carry an extra man beyond the usual limits.

In the event that a team is granted a disabled player exception, uses it to acquire a player, and then has its injured player return ahead of schedule (ie. before the end of the season), the team is allowed to carry both players.

However, if a team has an unused disabled player exception and then trades its injured player, the team would lose the exception. The same is true if the injured player returns to action before the DPE has expired or been used.

Most disabled player exceptions ultimately go unused. For instance, the Nuggets were granted a DPE due to DaRon Holmes‘ season-ending Achilles tear, but because he’s earning just $3,065,640 as a rookie, the exception is worth only $1,532,820, 50% of that amount. It doesn’t hurt for a team to have that tool as its disposal, but it will be difficult for Denver to do much with that.

More sizable disabled player exceptions can come in handy, most frequently in trades, where they can allow sometimes allow a team to generate a new trade exception with an outgoing contract rather than using it to match the incoming salary.

For example, after being granted a $12,405,000 DPE in the wake of Ja Morant‘s season-ending shoulder injury last season, the Grizzlies made a trade with Houston that sent out Steven Adams ($12.6MM) and brought back Victor Oladipo‘s expiring $9.45MM contract. Rather than using Adams’ outgoing salary as a salary-matching piece to acquire Oladipo, Memphis used its DPE to take on Oladipo’s deal, generating a new $12.6MM trade exception for Adams’ salary.

Notably, the Grizzlies had also been granted a separate $6.3MM disabled player exception for Adams after losing the big man to a season-ending knee injury, but they were forced to forfeit that DPE when they traded Adams away.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post were published in 2012, 2017, and 2022.

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